Throughout the roughly four hours after the jet dropped from civilian
radar screens, these people said, the link operated in a kind of
standby mode and sought to establish contact with a satellite or
satellites. These transmissions did not include data, they said, but the
periodic contacts indicate to investigators that the plane was still
intact and believed to be flying.

nvestigators are still working to fully understand the information,
according to one person briefed on the matter. The transmissions, this
person said, were comparable to the plane "saying I'm here, I'm ready to
send data."

Investigators are trying to determine, among other
things, whether the plane may have landed in an unknown location at some
point during the period under scrutiny, these people said.